If your new driveway connects to a Tehama County road, you need a driveway culvert permit, which the county handles as an encroachment permit through the Department of Public Works. The permit covers any work inside the county right-of-way, and the culvert is usually the part the county cares about most, because it keeps your driveway from dumping water onto the road.
That's the short version. The longer version is that the permit is easy to get and expensive to skip. Picture an owner who digs in a driveway on a Saturday, pours the apron, and gets a call from the county the following week. Pulling out new concrete to put a pipe under it is a bad way to spend a budget.
This post covers when the permit applies, what the county charges, how culverts get sized, and how to time the work so it's done before the wet season.
When a driveway needs an encroachment permit
An encroachment is anything you build, place, or dig in the public right-of-way. The right-of-way is wider than the pavement. It usually runs past the edge of the road to include the shoulder and the roadside ditch, and on many rural Tehama County roads the property line is further back than people think.
Your driveway is an encroachment the moment it crosses that strip to meet the road. Tehama County's Department of Public Works lists driveway installation and maintenance among the work that needs written authorization, and that includes reworking an existing driveway, not just cutting a new one.
Here's how the common situations break out:
| Your situation | Who issues the permit |
|---|---|
| New driveway onto a county-maintained road | Tehama County Public Works |
| Rebuilding or widening an existing county-road driveway | Tehama County Public Works |
| Driveway onto a state highway such as Highway 99W or 99E | Caltrans, not the county |
| Driveway onto a private road or easement | Usually the road owner or association, not the county |
| Culvert inside your own property, away from the road | No encroachment permit, but a building or grading permit may still apply |
If you can't tell which category your road falls in, call Public Works at (530) 385-1462 before you hire anyone. It takes five minutes and it settles the question.
What the county charges
Tehama County posts a fee schedule on its encroachment permit page. As of this writing, a minor permit carries a flat fee of $224.11. A major permit takes a $300 deposit plus hourly review time, listed at $112.06 per hour for an Engineer Tech III or $143.68 per hour for a Civil Engineer.
The county decides whether your job is minor or major, not you. A straightforward residential driveway on a quiet road is the kind of job that tends to land on the simple end, but a driveway with drainage complications or heavy traffic can get a closer look. Fees get updated, so check the page the day you apply.
The application is a form you download, fill out, and email to permits@tcpw.ca.gov. The office is open Monday to Friday, 8 to 5, closed for lunch from noon to 1.
Why the county cares about the culvert
Roadside ditches carry the county's drainage. When your driveway crosses one, you're building a small dam unless there's a pipe under it. Water backs up, finds the low spot, and either floods the road or cuts across your own driveway.
That's why county codes in California generally require a culvert wherever a driveway crosses a ditch or would change how runoff reaches the road. The county sets the pipe diameter and length on your permit. Don't buy pipe before you have the permit in hand. An owner who hauls home an 18-inch pipe from a supply yard can find out the county wanted something larger because of the ditch flow. That's a second trip and a restocking fee.
A few things drive the size the county asks for:
- How much water the ditch carries in a hard storm, which depends on the slope and how much ground drains to that point
- Whether the road sits above or below your driveway grade
- The fill depth over the pipe, since a pipe under thin cover can crush under a loaded truck
Material matters too. Corrugated metal and corrugated plastic (HDPE) are both common for residential crossings. Concrete pipe lasts longest and weighs a lot, which is part of why it costs more to set. On a rural property where heavy trucks and eventually a fire engine have to cross, we'd rather see the crossing built with real cover and a proper headwall than a thin pipe that gets a rut in it by February.
Do you need other permits too?
Sometimes. Three come up often enough that it's worth asking.
A grading permit. If you're building a house pad along with the driveway, the grading permit is a separate process with its own timeline. Our post on grading permits in Tehama County walks through that one. The driveway encroachment permit and the grading permit don't replace each other.
Streambed notification. If your driveway crosses a natural creek or seasonal drainage, rather than a man-made roadside ditch, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife may require a Lake and Streambed Alteration notification before you disturb the channel. A culvert in a real drainage is a different animal than one in a road ditch. If water runs through there in January and there's a defined bed and bank, ask first.
Fire access standards. A driveway longer than a few hundred feet on a rural parcel may need to meet fire-safe access standards for width and turnaround. Those come through the building permit rather than the encroachment permit, but your contractor should know about them before the first load of base rock gets spread.
Who should do the work
Some property owners dig their own culvert, and for a short crossing on flat ground with an easy ditch, that can be a reasonable job if you have the equipment and the county signs off. Here's where we'd stop and hire it out: a deep ditch, a steep driveway grade, a long pipe run, or a crossing that has to carry heavy trucks on day one.
Whoever you hire, they should hold an active contractor license for the work. You can look up any license on the CSLB website. Walberg, Inc. holds CSLB License #898860 (A, C-21, C-22), and we've been owner-operated out of Corning since 1999. Our house pads and driveways work covers the compacted base and the shaping of the apron so water goes where the county's permit says it should, and we can talk through the culvert on a site visit. If the ditch needs reshaping or the trench runs deep, our excavation work covers that under the same job.
Culverts also tie into larger drainage. If your property has a low spot that floods every winter, or the county ditch fills with silt and runoff, the fix may involve storm drain installation rather than a pipe under the driveway alone.
When to start if you want it done before the rains
It's October. The wet season in the northern Sacramento Valley and the foothills usually kicks in between November and March, and that's the worst time to be cutting a trench across a ditch. Wet soil won't compact right, an open trench fills with runoff, and the county inspector isn't going to sign off on a crossing that's sitting in mud.
Our advice is simple. If you want pipe in the ground this fall, get the application in this week, because the county has to review it before anyone digs. If the permit doesn't come back until the ground is saturated, we'd wait for a dry stretch in spring rather than force it. A crossing built in muck fails the first time it rains hard, and it fails in your driveway, where you'll see it every day.
For owners near Corning, our Corning service area page has the local details on how we work in Tehama County.
Common Questions
How much does a driveway culvert permit cost in Tehama County?
The county lists a flat fee of $224.11 for a minor encroachment permit. A major permit takes a $300 deposit plus hourly review charges. Check the county's fee schedule before you apply, since the numbers get updated.
Do I need a permit to replace an old culvert under my driveway?
Usually yes, if the culvert sits in the county right-of-way. Replacing a failed pipe still disturbs the roadside ditch and can change how water moves, and the county treats that as work needing authorization. A quick call to Public Works confirms it for your road.
Who decides what size culvert I need?
The county sets the pipe diameter and length on your permit based on the ditch and the road. Contractors can recommend a size, but the number on the permit controls. Wait for it before ordering pipe.
What happens if I install a driveway culvert without a permit?
The county can require you to remove or rebuild the work, and a crossing that doesn't match county standards can be torn out at your cost. It can also hold up a building final if the driveway is part of a new home. Getting the permit first is the cheaper route.
Can my contractor pull the permit for me?
Often a licensed contractor can apply on your behalf, and many property owners prefer that, though Public Works can confirm how it handles agents. Ask whoever bids the job whether the permit is included in the price or left to you, so nothing gets missed.
The bottom line
A driveway that meets a county road needs an encroachment permit, and the culvert under it is the piece the county will scrutinize. Call Public Works first to confirm your road is county-maintained, get the permit before you buy pipe, and plan the dig for a dry window. If you'd like a second set of eyes on your ditch and driveway grade before you apply, request a free estimate and Walberg, Inc. will look at the site and tell you what we'd do.